The New York Times asserts that "the obstacles to making any proposal for peace or political settlement are enormous, particularly given the violence of the Palestinian uprising over the past 21 months, which has left well over 1,000 Palestinians dead and killed some 900 Israelis." (Bush Set to Offer Plan for Palestinian State. June 14, 2002)

It is hard to know where these figures--which are far out of line with those from almost every other source--came from. The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem puts the number of Israeli civilians and military personnel killed between September 29, 2000 and June 11, 2002 at 491 (www.btselem.org), while the Palestinian Red Crescent Society gives the number of Palestinians killed in the same period as 1,588, including 311 killed during Israel's massive invasion of West Bank cities starting in late march (www.palestinercs.org)

Indeed the obstacles to any progress are rendered only greater when newspapers 'of record' are so careless with basic facts.

Ali Abunimah
www.abunimah.org
www.electronicintifada.net